Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says that it has won the referendum on independence.

Catalan television station TV3 said the right to self-determination was victorious by over 90% of the vote, with Yes winning by 2,020,144 votes to 176,566.

In a televised address, Mr Puigdemont said: “With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form a republic. My government, in the next few days will send the results of today’s vote to the Catalan parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum.” He also added that the European Union could no longer “continue to look the other way”.

After polls closed, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy deemed the vote “a mockery” of democracy. Spain’s constitution states that it will not allow any vote on independence and deems any held vote illegal.

The vote itself was marred with ugly clashes between voters and the police, with the police in some instances seizing possession of ballot boxes.

About Jack Smith

Jack is from Hampshire, England, who has recently entered into the foray of political reporting, with a background primarily in sports journalism, in which he has interviewed Formula 1 drivers and British soccer stars. Jack is a supporter of the UK Independence Party and campaigned for ‘Brexit’, his particular interests being British politics and political campaign analysis. A keen poet, Jack has performed frequently in his home town in-front of small audiences of left-wing creative writers, who he is disappointed not to have offended yet.